Lorry driver rapist preyed on drunk female students

To friends and neighbours Gary Howe, 44, was a respectable family man working long hours to provide for his wife and teenage children.

But by night the 44-year-old lorry driver turned into a violent rapist preying on drunk female students as they returned home to their university digs at night.

The sex attacker struck in the dead of night and raped two young students and sexually assaulted another three.

He would target young female students who had been out drinking with friends in pubs and clubs and were walking home alone.

The series of vicious attacks last summer struck fear into the heart of student communities of Sheffield and Bristol.

Yet Howe lived an apparently respectable life in a small semi-detched house in the suburbs of Sheffield with his wife of 21 years, Maxine, and his16-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son.

A keen motorsports fan, he was known as a 'petrolhead' and would travel across the UK to attend race events with friends.

He also had a passion for vehicle restoration and would spend much of his spare time refurbishing kit cars.

A lorry driver with more than 20 years experience, Howe worked nightshifts and used his job as an excuse for leaving his wife, and children home late at night to go on the prowl.

He is facing life in jail after pleading guilty to two rapes and sexual assaults during a four month period last year.

Detective Inspector Tom Whiteley said Howe was a Jekyll and Hyde character who transformed into a sex beast.

He said: "He tended to attack students because of their lifestyle. In the area around the universities in Sheffield there are young people making their way home in the early hours of the morning, possibly under the influence of alcohol, who are sometimes not particularly streetwise, so they are vulnerable.

"His way of operating was pretty similar,' he said. 'He would grab women from behind, tell them not to scream and that he had a knife, although he never produced one and one was never found."

Mr Whiteley said: "He had never previously been in trouble with the law. His family are completely devastated and at a loss to understand the reasons for his behaviour. They were totally unaware of what he was doing."

Neighbours said they were shocked that such a quiet family man could have carried out such despicable crimes.

One said: "He was quiet, kept himself to himself but you wouldn't have imagined he could be guilty of such dreadful things. It's shocking."

He would prey on young women close to university complexes walking home alone in the early hours of the morning.

Howe first struck while on a job in Bristol twice raping a 19-year-old student on June 2 as she walked home after enjoying a night out with friends.

Nine days later he tried to rape a student near Sheffield's Botanical Gardens as she walked home from celebrating her 21st birthday.

But the student managed to beat Howe away by using kick-boxing moves as he tried to drag her into a secluded area.

On June 22 he beat a girl who was walking home alone in Sheffield and tried to sexually assault her before running off.

Four days later Howe broke into a student flat in the city and tampered with a lock, before returning two nights later and trying to rape the occupant as she lay in her bed.

And on September 21 the father-of-two raped a lone female student as she walked home close to a busy road in Sheffield.

The case was featured on the BBC TV's Crimewatch programme with police warning students to be on their guard against the sex fiend.

Howe was eventually caught when he was spotted on CCTV footage loitering outside a student hall of residence.

At Sheffield Crown Court Howe admitted assaults on five different women.

Judge Alan Goldsack QC, adjourned the case for pre-sentence and psychiatric reports and remanded Howe in custody. He will be sentenced next month.

The case will once again raise fears about the safety of young women who are drinking increasing amounts of alcohol.

Recent surveys have found that female students binge drink more than their male counterparts.

European Schools Survey Project On Alcohol And Other Drugs, revealed 29 per cent of British female students admitted to drinking excessively at least three times per month. The figure for male students was 26 per cent.